The Belgian government has sought an explanation from Stephen Byers, UK tradeand industry secretary, for his decision to order Interbrew, the Belgianbrewer of Stella Artois, to sell Bass Brewers, the Financial Times reports. Ithas also asked Mario Monti, the European competition commissioner, whether thedecision took sufficient account of globalisation of markets and theobjectives of the EU single market. Analysts said that following Mr Byers'decision to back a competition commission ruling, Interbrew, who must now sellBass Brewers could lose up to £800m on the sale. Interbrew, which stressed ithad not lobbied the Belgian government for support, said it had yet to decidewhether to appeal against the competition commission's decision, the FinancialTimes continued.
